Dowpro Wiki
Dawn of War Professional, also known as DoWpro, is a competitive gaming mod for Dawn of War. The mod focuses on returning to, and enhancing, the gameplay-experience of Vanilla Dawn of War (i.e. pre-Winter Assault). The mod unapologetically focuses on 1v1s. Features Content * The players are given more choices as to the composition of their armies, via the re-introduction of vanilla content and some new content. * DoWpro also implements new content from certain other mods (used with permission). * Content is carefully added, with an eye to improving the strategy and tactics of the game. Gameplay * A wide range of changes were made to improve the experience for veteran RTS players who seek a deeper competitive gaming experience. * Ongoing efforts have been made to standardise gameplay patterns to manage the complex learning curve. * The warhammer 40k experience of relentless war is emphasised through the endemic battles for map control, dominance and advantage. Micromanagement * There are less pathing issues via tweaks, such as reducing model sizes of both infantry and tanks as well as the removal of clipping. * Large scale army control in 1v1s is more common, because players tend to have more squads to control. * Removal of the Fire on the Move Accuracy Penalty implemented in Dark Crusade, thus the original game's 'run and shoot' unit control is emphasized. * Units tend to have more abilities and have gained secondary or tertiary utility that did not exist in the base game. For instance, Warp Spiders can use the decapitation ability to teleport leap into melee, enabling Eldar to tie up enemy anti-tank squads in close combat. Macro-management * The tech tree is flatter, with units being generally earlier in the tech tree. This enables players to make less predictable army compositions. * Tier 4, which was introduced in a later expansion, no longer exists. * There are far more researches and all researches have shorter completion times, which increases the importance of multi-tasking. * Base Bashing can undermine a player's capacity to fight. For instance, the destruction of the Armoury will make a plyer lose access to perhaps vital special weapons (such as missile launchers). Consequently, Sim-city gameplay is encouraged to manage risks. Factions * Space Marines are rebalanced around being an Elite unit army, with their Tactical Space Marines taking 3 population (from 2 in the base game). * Chaos forces play similarly to the Space Marines, but with a greater focus on melee combat and daemonic support units. Their vehicle choices are more limited than the Space Marines, but versatility in units like the Defiler allow one unit to cover many roles. * Orks are rebalanced around being a melee Horde army (like in vanilla), except that they have more varied armor types and ways to deal with hard counters (which Orks lacked in vanilla, noticeably against the Eldar Warp Spiders). * Eldar, being more like Vanilla, are the most hard counter race. More than any other race, they are about picking and choosing engagements through the use of Fleet of Foot, Teleports or the Webway. Target priority and thoughtful micro are mandatory for success. * The Imperial Guard are rebalanced towards being a Horde army, where a guardsmen squad costs 100 requisition (from 160). In order to defeat Elite unit massed gunlines, the Imperial Guard rely on a combination of disruption, dense formations, siege warfare, and fighting in multiple places at once by utilising their numerical advantage. Expect atrociously high casualty rates even in victory. * Tau emphasize mobile firepower that is rebalanced towards the use of infiltration, jetpacks and ambushes. Tau can now go both Mont'ka and Kauyon, allowing for far more squad combinations. Tau have a wide range of soft and hard counter units. The Tau emphasize teamwork between different unit types, rather than the massing of one unit type. * Necrons use a unique mechanic where they need to expand their area of control and actually gain resources in an effort to actually force them to take and hold territory and play more like the rest of the factions, as opposed to how they originally played. * Dark Eldar are a soft counter Fleet of Foot race, combining aspects of the Eldar while still being notably distinct. Cosmetics A range of cosmetic improvements (too many to list) have been carefully done to modernise the content, without introducing bugs into the game. AI The Dawn of Skirmish AI has been introduced and customised for the mod (used with permission). Population Mechanics: Space Marines The following applies specifically to Space Marines, but applies to the other factions in a similar manner. Squad Cap Initial Population 9. This permits a combination of: Tactical Space Marines (3 pop, Tier 1), Scouts (1 pop, Tier 1), Grey Knights (3 pop, Tier 1), Assault Marines (3 pop, Tier 1). * During a Tier 1 fight, it is common for the player to lose their scouts. In response, you could purchase an additional elite unit (maxing out your population with 3 squads of tactical marines, for instance) to accelerate your brute force advantage, but undermining your ability to contest the critical locations while simultaneously applying pressure to the enemy base. Second HQ +3. * In a common opening, with two Tactical Marines and three Scouts, if you had not lost any units then you still would not have the spare population for a Terminator or Assault Terminator (4 pop, Tier 2.5) squad, unless a scout squad dies. This is a trade off in your army composition. Squad Cap Increase +3. Vehicle Cap Initial Population 3. This permits a combination of Rhino (1 pop, Tier 2), Landspeeder (1 pop, Tier 2.5), Dreadnought (2, Tier 2.5), Hellfire Dreadnought (2, Tier 2.5), Whirlwind (2, Tier 2.5), but not a Predator (4 pop, Tier 2.5). Second HQ +1. This permits a predator (4 pop, Tier 2.5). Machine Cult +2. This permits, without a 2nd HQ, a Land Raider (5 pop, Tier 3). Vehicle Cap Increase +3. Even with Initial Population + Second HQ + Squad Cap Increase, you could not get both a Predator and a Land Raider (praise the Emperor!). Having a Second HQ with your Machine Cult is the difference between having 2 or 3 dreadnoughts during the mid game. Unit Scaling Mechanics Squad sizes increase throughout the game, in response to reaching the next tier and purchasing infrastructure, research or addons. In the case of horde units this can be substantial. The particulars of what mechanic increases what unit, and by how much, varies by race. Therefore there are multiple approaches to increasing your actual army size: * Via research: squad cap increase. * Via economy boom: second HQ. * Via teching: Tier 1.5, 2.5 or Tier 3.5 structures (which tend to increase squad sizes). And multiple approaches to increase your effective army size (without costing population): * Special weapons, such as Plasmaguns. * Squad leaders (and associated researches). * Mini-heroes, such as Apothecaries * Standard HP / DPS researches * Squad type specific researches * Commander wargear (via auras) * Secondary or Tertiary commanders (via abilities) Players are encouraged to think of things as optional ways to customise their army that can be mixed and matched in different combinations. As the player progresses through the tech tree, the rate at which units scale is much flatter than the base game. Previously, units of the next tier would rapidly increase in combat capability by HP, Damage, Movement speed, Sight and even Armour type. Links * https://discordapp.com/invite/0iv7JxFQwCVCSXak - Dowpro Discord Community * http://www.moddb.com/mods/dowpro - Mod DB page. Category:Browse Category:Mechanics